Friday, August 21, 2009

Korben's 4th Birthday!!

I was talking to my brother Jared the night before he left for the MTC about how long two years is. To him, two years was seeming like a really long time. But when I thought about how long two years is, I realized that two years is nothing...in fact two years happens so fast that somehow, in what seems the blink of an eye, my 2 year old is now a 4 year old. I know I have had times in the past two years that have seemed never ending; times like a puke filled pregnancy, and months on end of doctors appointments for both Korben and Logan; times with job changes that kept Mike away from home, and times of having long waits between family visits. And yet, now it seems like everything has gone all too fast and I wish things would slow down a little bit. Logically, I know that Korben didn't just one day go from a newborn to a 4 year old. All the same, I thought it would be good to check and make sure - and sure enough, as you can see, he did go through all the stages just like he was supposed to.
Seeing it doesn't necessarily make the time feel longer, but at least I know that no matter how fast time seems to fly, we have documented it all - which hopefully means I won't forget anything.

So....drum roll please...here he is....
Korben Michael Harrison - 4 Years Old

From Korben's 4th Birthday
Korben was so excited for his birthday this year. It is the first time that he has actually anticipated opening presents, picking his type of cake, and having a party. As soon as he saw the wrapped gifts it was all he could talk about for the entire week. It was so fun to see how much he has progressed in one year. Last year on his birthday he just seemed overwhelmed and lost and although he had a party he didn't really seem to enjoy it. That was also the day he had the first of many evaluations...it is awesome to see how far he has come since then.

We decided that this year would just be a family year as far as gifts went. It was casual and fun because he could open one gift and play with it as much as he wanted- as opposed to being rushed to open the next one when a lot of people are waiting. He loved all of his gifts, but funny enough his immediate favorites were the $1 store puzzles - go figure. :D

From Korben's 4th Birthday
After he had played with all of his indoor toys, we decided to "officially" give him his new bike. This one wasn't necessarily a surprise, because it was a bike that we had purchased off of craigslist a few weeks earlier and he was there when we bought it. Apparently a Trek bike is a high quality bike (according to Mike) and regardless of the color, for $50 was a screaming deal. So even though it was dark purple, we decided to get it. I guess you could consider it a unisex bike since it was purple and blue, but it was just a little too girly for my liking. So, we took it apart, sanded it down, spray painted it, glossed it, put it all back together, and viola...a new bike:

From Korben's 4th Birthday
Even though he already knew about the bike, he was stoked to finally get to ride it. He calls it his "blue's clues" bike and pretty much asks to ride it all day. Here's a pic of his first ride around our neighborhood:

From Korben's 4th Birthday
Later that night we invited a few of our friends and their families over for dinner and cake and ice cream. It was a perfect ending to the night because Korben was able to have the party he had been asking about all week, and we were able to share a good meal and evening with our friends.

Thanks to the grandparents on both sides that sent gifts, the Wise family for his new cars, Great-Aunt Kathy for the cute card, and Toys R Us for the free Thomas train that worked perfectly for his cake. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KORBEN!

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

A Little Of This/That

Although it is fun to have visitors and play a little bit (or a lot), that isn't really the standard every day life in the Harrison household (thank heavens). Below is a list of the latest normal everyday life occurrences in our home:

* JULY 14: Logan experienced his first wasp sting. At least now we know he isn't allergic...
* JULY 17th: We bought the boys a pool since they love playing in the water. Korben immediately took control of the hose and attacked Logan with the freezing cold water. I probably should have intervened but they were both laughing hysterically so I just went with it...
* JULY 28th: We decided it was time for Logan to have a "big boy" bed since one morning he chewed a part of his crib clear to splinters (not joking). After lots of searching on craigslist, we found this awesome trundle bed for only $50. Logan loves the freedom of a twin bed...and the rest of us are trying to cope with that new found freedom. :D
(We will buy another matress for the trundle as soon as someone that can use it decides to visit us...hint, hint.)

* AUGUST 1st: I attended a YW Beach Retreat that we had been planning for a month or so. The day was wonderful - lots of scripture reading, object lessons, applying the scriptures, pondering, playing, and eating...what could be better than that?

* AUGUST 5th: My cousin Johanna came to visit her brother and we all got together at the children's museum. The boys had a blast as usual. The little store area seemed to hold their interest for the longest time this time around. Korben took it upon himself to be the cashier for all the other kids coming through with their carts of food. It was adorable to see him acting out a role that he sees quite often.

* AUGUST 6th: Most of our plants have done well this year, but the tomatoes take the cake for best harvest. This was the second picking of the summer and I have already picked two more bowls full since this was taken. I have finally started giving them away because as much as we love tomatoes, we can't keep up with them.

* JULY/AUG: The boys seem to get more and more personality every day. Both of them also like to make faces for the camera. Here are just a few of our captured silly moments:
(Korben's "sad face" & Logan's "seafood face")
* AUGUST 16th: Sunday morning snuggles are one of my favorite pastimes. Since we don't have church till 1pm we all lounge about in the morning just enjoying each other's company. As tough as 1pm church can be, I sure love my snuggle time.
From August 2009
And there you have it...standard days in the life of the Harrison's.
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Sunday, August 16, 2009

Enchanted Forest (Erika's visit Pt. 3)

Mon: This was the final full day we would have with Erika so I decided to take her to The Enchanted Forest. I saw it when John and I went to Newport earlier in the year but had forgotten about it until I overheard someone mention it Sunday at church. I couldn't find anyone who had actually been there so we drove the hour south on faith, hoping that it would be cool - and we were not disappointed. In fact, it was much cooler that I had anticipated; so cool, that this is practically the only view I saw of Korben the entire day:
We started out by going through a castle and onto storybook lane. It was so cute and had everything from Snow White's cottage, and the rabbit hole from Alice in Wonderland, to a tilted house and The Seven Dwarfs' cave. The best part however, were the slides that came out of the head of a huge witch, and another coming from an enormous shoe. We literally had to drag the boys away from them in order to see the rest of the park. We also ended up revisiting them after everything else because Korben kept asking for the "shoe slide" and the "giant witch".
We continued through the park checking out all the fun villages until we came upon the haunted house. I didn't want Erika to have to go through alone, so I decided to take the boys in too and if it was too scary we could exit at any time. Now before you all go and give me the worst-mother-of-the-year award for taking my two kids into a haunted house, let me defend myself. I specifically asked the lady that worked there if young kids typicall went in/got scared when they went in, and she said she had kids their ages go in all the time and not get scared. Also, Korben isn't afraid of the dark and at times even prefers it, so I knew that that wouldn't be a problem. He and Logan also don't understand what "scary" is yet, so as long as things weren't jumping out and scaring us(which they weren't) I didn't think it would be a problem.

So we started into the haunted house, and Korben's first words were "ooooh it's dark" followed up by a giggle. I was sure this was going to be a cake walk because Logan was laughing too. I firmly believe that if the 3 girls behind us hadn't started screaming about how scary it was, Korben wouldn't have freaked out and my contact wouldn't have popped out when he poked me in the eye. But...they did scream, he did freak out, and my contact was lost in a completely dark haunted house. Trying to stay calm, I took the closest exit (which I had to find carrying Korben and with blurry vision) which also happened to be a fire escape (whoops). So we all rush out of the fire escape with the alarm blaring - add that to Korben's excitement at being free, the girls following us out screaming, and an attendant standing at the door yelling at me for taking the fire escape, and I was ready to sit down and cry. I asked him to shut the door so I could hear and explained to him that I had lost my contact and wasn't just a disobedient patron of the village. He was then kind enough to offer to get a flashlight to search the place since it didn't have lights - an offer I'm sure he didn't think I would accept because it was like finding a needle in a haystack; but hey, what can I say...I have faith. Oh yeah, and if we didn't find it, Erika was going to have to drive us home right through Portland - NOT AN OPTION...

...After a long wait and several people going in and out of the haunted house, I had very little hope of finding the contact. But since the dude had been nice enough to round up the flashlight and humor me I figured I ought to give it a shot. So we walked through the house, him shining the flashlight back and forth, and me trying to catch a glint of something with blurry vision (I couldn't close the eye lacking the contact and just use the other one because I happen to not have the ability of closing my left eye without the right one closing too - something that Mike teases me for constantly). We made it all the way to the fire exit and other than a very dirty floor, I hadn't seen a thing. I asked him if we could look one more time, and just as I had given up hope....a glint of light. I'm positive I assured him of my craziness when I jumped up and screeched at him to bring the light back; but I think he thought he had witnessed a miracle when I showed him the tiny contact on my finger. That's right folks-I FOUND IT (with some Divine intervention I'm sure). After a good rinse off in my water cup and a lot of "wows" and "that is amazings" from all the attendants that had heard the tale, I put my contact back on and we were off to see the rest of the park.

After the thrill of the haunted house, we decided to get our thrills in a less dramatic and much more fun way by riding rides. Unfortunately Logan wasn't big enough for any of the large ones, so Erika had the pleasure of taking Korben on all of those. They had a blast- especially on the log ride that had a 40ft plunge at the end. We also found some smaller rides that Logan could go on too, so the only person left out was me...ah the life of a mom. :D

The last ride they went on was a little train where they could push buttons and steer etc. The attendant was nice enough to let the boys ride it 3-4 times in a row even though we only had enough tickets for one ride. I couldn't get a single picture of the boys looking at me until the very end when the ride stopped and I told Korben it was time to go...and this was the look he gave me:
From Erika's Visit Blog
Gotta love that right - to go from coolest mom to meanest mom in a matter of minutes. Then, to top the day off, the ride attendant kept calling Erika Korben's sister and I was starting to get a complex about how old I looked. I mean, do I look like I'm old enough to have a 15 year old daughter already?! That doesn't give me much hope for what I will look like when I actually do have a 15 year old. All that aside, the day was awesome. We were all tuckered out by the end but glad we had added one more adventure before Erika had to head home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Erika left on Tuesday, but not until her and Mike were able to go see a horror movie together. They had been talking about it all week but felt bad sending me to bed so that they could watch one (I don't do scary movies anymore). So Mike worked it out and was able to take her to a show right before she had to leave. They came home practically drooling about how awesome and gruesome and funny it was. It was fun to see Mike and Erika get along so well and have their own inside jokes, so I was glad that it had worked out right at the last minute. We headed immediately to the airport and made sure Erika got checked in and through security before we left her (it was her first time flying alone). Later that night Mike and I both mentioned how lonely our house felt. The boys also suffered withdrawals from not having their fun cousin around. I guess staying home and watching mom do housework just doesn't cut it when you have just partied for a week. :D

Thanks for coming Erika Jo! We loved having you and hope you can come visit us again soon!!

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Friday, August 14, 2009

Oregon Coast (Erika Visit Pt. 2)

Sat: This was the only day that Mike was going to get to hang out with us so we decided to make it a fun adventure. We didn't really have a plan in mind except that we were heading to Astoria, OR and we would see as much as we could throughout the day.

Our first stop was at the Astoria Column - the highest point in Astoria. We climbed all 164 steps to the top to get a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean, Columbia River, Mountains and the Astoria-Megler Bridge.
After the Column, we crossed the bridge just for the experience (it is the longest truss bridge in the world) and checked out an old fort on the Washington side. We didn't stay long because we really wanted to see Historical Fort Stevens since we had missed it the last time we had visited. It was a good decision too, because when we pulled into the fort we were informed that a WWII re-enactment would be starting in about 5 minutes. We ran up the hill and made it just in time to see all the action. It was intriguing yet sad to see what combat was like at that time and how quickly men died in battle. We left before the show was over so that we could explore the fort a little without all the people around. I could have explored the fort all day and been content, but we had a shortage of time with Erika so decided to move on to the next adventure.
We drove to a different part of the Fort Stevens State Park - The Peter Iredale Shipwreck and ocean. It was at this point that Erika informed us that this would be her first time to the ocean! After finding this out I couldn't believe the girl hadn't been dragging us from the fort. :D Now, as beautiful as the Oregon coast is, the water is FREEZING cold. We still let the boys play in it though because, like Erika, this was their first time playing in the ocean. I was amazed at how much they loved playing in the water regardless of how cold it was. We eventually had to drag Korben from the water because his lips were turning blue and he was shaking like a leaf, and yet he cried the entire walk back to the car because he wanted to
"play in the ocean".
From Astoria-Seaside 2009
(You can see from his face that he absolutely loved it, but that is was REALLY cold)
Before we left the beach and headed for our next destination, Erika wanted to get some pictures of herself in the ocean. She completely surprised me when she decided that she needed to sit in the freezing cold water in order to "get the full ocean experience". I remember the days when I did silly things like that just for the experience - now I just prefer to stay warm. :D Unfortunately, she was wearing denim which doesn't dry out quickly...fortunately, we had Mike's swimming shorts just in case he had decided to get in deeper than his ankles, so we at least had something she could put on. Luckily for her she is completely gorgeous even in over sized men's swimming shorts, not to mention completely confident in herself, so it didn't even seem to phase her at all.
We decided to take the long way home and go through Seaside, OR. While we were checking out the shops in Seaside we found a great place to get ice cream - a place that also sold every kind of salt water taffy imaginable - called The Seaside Candyman. We went a little crazy and ended up buying around 4lbs of salt water taffy. One would think that much taffy would last us about a year...um, yeah, it lasted us about 4 days... :S

After Seaside we decided that we wanted to go see Cannon Beach and the Goonies rocks. It was getting late so we put the boys in their pajamas intending to only stop long enough to get a few pictures and then head home.
However, our intentions went right out the window as soon as the boys set foot in the sand. For some reason the sand would squeak when you walked on it- something the boys thought was outrageously funny. They ended up running and prancing and kicking the sand in every way possible trying to get it to make funny sounds.
At one point I was kneeling in the sand and Logan ran up and gave me the sweetest hug. I didn't know at the time that Mike saw him and snapped a picture of the moment, but I was excited to see it later. I think that I mostly blog about how crazy Logan is and forget sometimes to mention how sweet he can be - I sure love my little Logan Spencer.
From Astoria-Seaside 2009
We ended up staying for an hour or so just enjoying the peace and beauty of the ocean. It was a great way to end an absolutely wonderful day.
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Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Erika's Visit (Part 1)

I knew that after the fun of visiting Idaho/Utah we would all be tired; tired of the car, tired of travelling, and simply tired from lack of sleep. So Mike and I decided to see if my niece Erika could help me on the drive back and then stay and play for a while . Her parents were good enough to oblige, and I will forever be grateful for it. The drive home was pretty good all things considered. Erika was a huge help not only with the boys, but with keeping me awake by providing great conversation, funny stories, and a willingness to sing songs with me. We obviously made it alive, but with zero energy left and for the next 2 days we would recuperate by sleeping in, reading books, catching up on tv, sleeping some more, etc, etc.

Then the fun REALLY started:
TUES: We eased into things by going to the park, making cookies and catching up on tv shows.

WED: We stepped things up a notch by going to Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince. We enjoyed it immensely - like most, I didn't care for the ending, but I am okay with it being different than the book and I am eagerly looking forward to the next two movies. When we got home, my friend Theresa had the boys all dressed and ready to go swimming in her kiddie pool. Rather than intrude on her longer (the movie is already 2.5hrs) Erika and I decided to suit up and take the boys "swimming". This basically ends up being one consecutive trip after another up the stairs and down the slide, so we got our exercise and the boys had a blast. We topped the night off with $5 Little Caesars and TCBY ice cream (did you know every Wednesday is "Waffle Cone Wednesday" and their waffle cones are only 99cents?!)

THURS: We decided to go check out Portland. As usual I had much more on the agenda than is possible if you don't have the utmost perfect sense of how to get around the stinking city. Just like every other time I have gone to Portland, we ended up getting lost, having to call Mike for help, getting stuck in traffic, and yet having a wonderful time. I just kept telling Erika it was all part of the Portland experience - I'm pretty sure by the end of it she was glad to be from Idaho though. :D What we DID get to see was the Portland Temple, The Candy House, and the view of all of Portland by way of the Tram. It was at this point that Erika had a teenage boy fall madly in love with her and follow her around like a little puppy dog just to get another look. He nearly trapped us in the corner of the second floor, but thanks to a quick escape through the outdoor garden we were able to avoid too much embarrassment. :0)
From Erika's Visit Blog
(Side Note: I was pretty impressed with myself when I took this picture. Thanks Mikey for teaching me about proximity to my subject.)

FRI: On Friday we decided to read some more (Erika brought me some great, silly romance books and I got her hooked on the "These Is My Words" set) and chill out. We wanted to go see Multnomah Falls, but wanted to be able to enjoy it without dragging the boys along. So when Mike got home, Erika and I set out for some exercise and silly girl time.
From Erika's Visit Blog
It was fun to hike all the way to the top since I have never had the opportunity in all of the times I have been to Multnomah. We had a great time taking lots of fun pics, talking about boys, and enjoying the awesome weather and beautiful nature. When we reached the top there wasn't a soul in sight to take a picture of us so we had to try and take one by ourselves. After about 100 failed attempts and lots of giggling, this is what we ended up with:


As you can see, by this point in Erika's visit the silliness had set in full force. Mike was such a trooper to put up with so much estrogen (although he will be the first to tell you that he loved having Erika here and would love to have a girl someday). And I loved every single minute that I was getting to spend with my niece. I remember being in her exact position: the family member that is young and flexible and more than willing to babysit or travel or sit around and do nothing, just for the experience. I have so many great memories of being the "extra help" on trips for my older siblings, and it was fun to be on the other end of things and be able to provide fun things to do. I also loved all the girl time that we had, the silliness and girly late night talks and all the other stuff that goes along with having another girl in the house. Mike is not the only one that would gladly add a girl to our family.
(Stay tuned for Erika's Visit Part 2)

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Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Camping Trip July 2009

After a sad farewell with Kathy, the boys and I headed to Rexburg to go on a camping trip with the Boyds, Edwards and Mom & Dad. This was the first time we had ever taken the boys camping so it was a bummer that Mike couldn't be there for it(he had to fly home for work). The week before heading to Idaho, we bought the boys new sleeping bags and prepared Korben by letting him sleep in one. He was so excited to camp that every single day of our trip he would ask if he could sleep in his sleeping bag "in the tent". After lots of disappointed nights, I told him he finally got to sleep in the tent and he was ecstatic.

After setting up camp, the boys were able to wander around, get dirty and play with their cousins. The older kids and the adults set up a table just outside of camp to have a gun shooting marathon. I think there were 7 different guns total, a whole truck load of ammunition, and plenty of people ready to shoot things:
It had been a long time since I had shot a gun, so I was excited to take my turn shooting every single one. And since I have absolutely no aiming capability whatsoever, I was pretty impressed with myself when I managed to shoot the water bottle they threw in the air. I had loads of fun, but ended up with a splitting headache and a nice bruise on my shoulder - all part of the experience I guess. Here I am with the sniper rifle and shotgun (notice my tongue out on the second pic - that is when I actually shot something so I guess it helps me focus :D)
Logan loved getting dirty, climbing on things and trying to get into anything he shouldn't. For some reason he was always trying to get back into the car...you can see the lengths he took to try and get into ours (standing on the truck). He wouldn't sit still to eat so I'm sure his food was good and contaminated by the time he actually got it down, but again that is all part of the camping experience. The hardest part of the trip was trying to get him to fall asleep. He somehow managed to get out of his pack n' play and would try and escape the tent. I ended up having to let him fall asleep strapped into his car seat and then move him later in the night. Unfortunately, it was so cold that both nights he had to climb out again and come crawl into my sleeping bag. It didn't make for very good sleep, but at least we were warm.
Korben loved the whole experience. He loved gathering wood with Kells and Andie, playing in the dirt, reading books with Grandma, and playing with his cousins. He also tried to be like his cousins which meant we were always having to keep him away from the fire where the older kids were playing. We actually made it out with only a tiny burn on his finger from one of the hot rocks, so I am grateful for all the extra help I had in keeping him occupied and away from the fire. He loved sleeping in his sleeping bag and didn't seem to be bothered by the cold. He was so sad the night that we went back to Kimber's house because he had to sleep in a warm bed with a warm blanket - rough life right? I foresee lots more camping in Korben's future.
By the second night, the little boys seemed to have a hard time keeping out of mischief, so I set up a little camping theatre using the back of the pilot, a portable DVD player, the stroller, and some camping chairs. It worked like a charm-they were content and I was able to eat my dinner without having to chase little boys around. Ahhhh, modern technology-Love it!
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Sunday, August 2, 2009

4th of July 2009

Well, it has been exactly a month since I last blogged. There are lots of reasons - traveling, partying with family, YW Stuff...but lately it has simply been because it has been over 100 degrees every day and the computer room is like a sauna. Some would say to just skip over July and start fresh; but this is our family journal so I will be spending the next few days (with the help of a fan) catching up. Hopefully the weather will cool down soon and I get can back into the groove of things again.

THE DRIVE
On June 30th I loaded the boys into the car for the long drive to Idaho/Utah. It was the first time that I would be doing it alone with the boys. We made it till about the first exit out of town before Logan started crying....needless to say, that experience is one that I don't care to duplicate anytime soon. Although they really were good travelers, having to drive one handed while trying to hand out food, or toys, or comfort wasn't easy and probably not the safest option, so let's hope it works out better next time. After around 10 hours of travel time, we made it to Twin Falls where we stayed with Cami and Ben. They got to experience the pent up energy of two little boys and I think were a little overwhelmed with the noise and craziness....but now maybe they are a little more prepared for their little boy. :D
From Twin I drove to Kara's house. We stayed up way too late (as usual) talking and watching movies. On the 2nd Mike flew in and for the next 4 days we stayed with Kathy. It was fun to get the 5 boys back together again (the first time in 6 months). They all were elated to see each other and played together so well. The adults were able to have a very missed game night, and lots of fun and long talks. It was a blast and was very sad when we had to leave.

4TH OF JULY-FULLMER PARTY
On the 4th we woke up early and headed to Arimo for the parade. It was the first parade that Korben and Logan had been to and they loved it. Korben had such a good time collecting candy and we ended up with way more than any family let alone one kid would ever need. It was also neat to see 4 of my brothers accompany the flag at the front of the parade. Aren't they a good looking bunch?

Following the parade we had the huge Fullmer Family Photo (the whole reason for the trip). It turned out as well as can be expected with that many people to get together. I am actually pleasantly surprised with our family photo - I know Korben isn't looking, but I still love the smile on his face and the moment that she captured-

And for all those reading my blog that aren't part of the Fullmer Clan, here is the photo of the whole crazy group:
After the pictures, we went back to the church for some food, games, and good conversation. I love this picture that I got of Mike and Korben while we were there...
Mike and I had to leave early in order to get back to Utah for his family party. Before we left, we had Mike take a picture of the 5 Fullmer Gals. I loved being silly with my sisters and getting some fun pics. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have such wonderful sisters that are also my friends and confidants.
4TH OF JULY-HARRISON PARTY
After another 2.5 hour drive, we arrived at Doug's house for the Harrison dinner and party. (pretty sure I gained 5 lbs just from the two meals that day) I thought the boys would be spent and kind of cranky, but they were surprisingly happy the whole time. They loved playing with the other kids, on the trampoline, in the garden, on the swingset, and even participated in the water fight. I was so impressed with how well Korben handled himself. He didn't throw tantrums or seemed overwhelmed at all the whole day. This was a huge step for him and I am so happy to know that we can get together with either of the two huge families and not have to worry that he is unhappy or overwhelmed at all.
The adults played the traditional game of crochet. I didn't really get any great pictures other than this one of my SIL Kathy Jo. I decided to put it up because it is a great picture that makes me smile. Kathy is truly a kindred spirit and just as much of a sister to me as any of my own are. I miss her terribly and am so glad for her friendship (even if it is long-distance).
Love you Kath!
After all the festivities, we topped the day off with a fireworks show. With a few added Washington specialties we had a great finale to the night.
Korben has always loved fireworks, but this year he especially loved the little snappers. After each snap he would cheer with more excitement than for any of the other big fireworks. It was really cute to see him so excited for something so simple.

At the end of the day I felt almost overwhelmed with how blessed I am to not have just one, but two amazing families that I am a part of. It was a very fulfilling day.

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